One of my favorite Disney movies is The Lion King. It’s easily got the best soundtrack, plus there are some incredible redemptive themes throughout the movie.
If you don’t remember it, it’s the story of Simba, a young lion – the heir to the throne. But his uncle, Scar, kills his father and convinces Simba that it was his fault. So Simba runs. In the meantime, the evil Scar rules the pridelands, with disastrous results. Oppressive darkness falls over the pridelands, as even nature itself rejects his rule, and it dies. But Simba is found by a friend, who persuades him to return, to fight and defeat the usurper, to redeem the land and take his rightful place as king.
There’s something in that story that resonates with all of us, isn’t there? We look at the world around us and – saved or not – something deep inside us cries out “This is NOT how it’s supposed to be!” We long for the King to return, to make it right. And we are not alone. Just as in The Lion King, even Creation itself longs for His return:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
– Romans 8:18-25
So when Jesus prays, “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven,” this is a profoundly eschatological prayer. We are praying for God to make Creation the way it always was meant to be, to return and set up His rightful rule, to depose Satan, the usurper, and to make things right – as the Bible promises He will one day.
Too often when we discuss “eschatology” (or “end times”) though, it becomes academic. People chart out how the End Times will supposedly play out, they look for which political leader is going to become the Antichrist and come up with wild theories of how he’ll come to power. But this misses the point. Eschatology is the Return of the King, about the redemption that comes when His rule expands beyond you and me to encompass all of Creation. It’s about hope, and it changes how we live now.
From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present… Those who hope in Christ can no longer put up with reality as it is, but begin to suffer under it, to contradict it.
– Jurgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope
As Christians, we long for the day when Heaven and Earth become the same thing, when death is no more, when no one is hungry or poor. When there are no more disease and no wars. But does that hope transform how you live today? As believers, we are already citizens of Heaven and subjects of the rightful King, and that changes literally everything. If you and I truly pray for God’s Kingdom and God’s rule to be established “on Earth as it is in Heaven”, we cannot go on comfortably living under the current system.
So as we meditate on Jesus’ model prayer today, think about this: what does it mean now for you and I live as subjects of the King? Will we love those who hate us? Will we care for widows, orphans, and the oppressed, and demonstrate the Kingdom of Grace for those who don’t yet share our hope?
Add Your Comment